GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

EFCC ANTI-CORRUPTION GIMMICKRY!

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been a blow-hot agency with so much rhetoric and drama but without any recorded conviction so far. What manner of agency is this that bandy about their photo-up effort to eradicate corruption in Nigeria with little or nothing to show for its' effort all these years. Maybe they should look west to America to see how it is done - it is called jail time for corrupt officials or persons. Jack Abrmoff is going to the big house for four years for corruption as well as the halibuton official accused of bribing Nigerian officials.

Now read the two stories: -

1. US lobbyist jailed for corruption

Abramoff's assistance led to other corruption convictions. Former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption. Abramoff had pleaded guilty in a Washington court to charges of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favours. The case caused a scandal in Washington and sparked off a wide-ranging public corruption probe. Abramoff is already serving a six-year term for his role in an unrelated fraudulent Florida casino deal. 'Changed man' The court had heard how Abramoff made tens of millions of dollars by steering clients to consultants who charged excessive fees and then split the profits with him. Abramoff had faced a possible 11-year sentence but was shown leniency because of his cooperation in other corruption cases. In 3,000 hours of interviews with the FBI, he gave information leading to the conviction of a string of lawmakers and high-profile political figures, including one member of Congress. Abramoff told the court that he was "a broken man" and pleaded for leniency, saying it was "amazing for me to see how far I strayed and how I did not see it at the time". He said that much of the activity of Washington "lives in the loopholes" but that he had "blundered farther than even those excesses would allow". The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says that the scandal was a disaster for the Republican party, leading to their loss of control in Congress in 2006. But, our correspondent says, the case is unlikely to have any impact on the current race for the White House. Abramoff's current jail term relates to the faking of a wire transfer to obtain loans to buy a fleet of casino boats.

2. Ex-KBR executive in guilty plea
KBR has been among firms involved in reconstruction in Iraq.The former chief executive of US construction firm KBR, Albert Stanley, has pleaded guilty to charges of corruption relating to Nigerian deals.Mr Stanley faces a seven-year prison sentence and must pay $10.8m (£6.07m), said the US Justice Department. He and others were accused of gaining construction deals worth more than $6bn by bribing Nigerian officials. KBR, which has caused controversy for its role in Iraq's reconstruction, had been part of Halliburton. Mr Stanley was accused of breaching anti-bribery rules under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over a decade-long period. Today's plea demonstrates that corporate executives who bribe foreign government officials in return for lucrative business deals can expect to face prosecution," said Matthew Friedrich, acting assistant attorney general.As well as criminal charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made civil charges against Mr Stanley. Along with others involved in the scam, Mr Stanley "determined it was necessary to pay bribes to individuals within the Nigerian government in order to obtain contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities in Bonny Island, Nigeria," said the watchdog.

Nigeria's EFCC, Icheoku asks, when is your effort going to yield a prison term for all those insanely-corrupt officials in Nigeria including those implicated in the Siemens bribery scandal? The whole world is getting tired of all the road-shows being put up by your agency in the guise of fighting corruption in Nigeria and it is time you delivered or pack up your tent and go home. It is incredible as it is stupendous the pandemic corruption in Nigeria as well as the lip-service effort at eradicating it!

1 comment:

  1. Multi-billon naira LNG scam: FBI hunts govt officials
    By Ike Nnamdi
    The Sun Reporter, New York
    Friday, September 12, 2008



    •Federal Bureau of Investigations
    Photo by: Sun News Publishing

    More Stories on This Section

    Agents of the elite American Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) are on their way to Abuja on the trail of several former top Nigerian officials implicated in a multi-billion dollar scam at the Liquified Natural Gas project.

    The agents, dispatched by the Justice Department are to gather more evidence, as well as probe into assets of the affected officials to be used in their impending trial.
    All the officials served in three previous administrations from 1994 to 2004.

    Washington said the agents will also provide "the smoking gun evidence" to officials of the Nigerian Ministry of Justice to sign off on a proposal to try all the officials in American courts.
    Already, the administration has prepared grounds for the trial by approving for the case to be tried in the U.S District Court of Houston, Texas.

    Court records showed that the officials whose names remain sealed until the case begins, allegedly connived with foreign businessmen to siphon over N21 billion set aside for the LNG project.
    Already the alleged mastermind of the scam, American businessman, Jack Stanley, has been jailed for the crime, but has pledged to cooperate with investigators for a reduction in his sentence.
    "This act reached up to the highest levels of the Nigerian government, but all those involved will be brought to trial," an official stated.

    But the State Department has expressed scepticism that Nigerian officials will allow the affected officials to be tried in the U.S. "We hope the Nigerian authorities will cooperate with us to investigate this matter and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. This will show the government is serious about its war on corruption.”

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